Question about the diuretic and water retention effect of foods?

July 8, 2011 4:33 AM

Question about the diuretic and water retention effect of foods?

I eat alot of raw vegetables to try and meet the deitary recommended 5-7 peices aday (carrots, celery, peas, spring onions, parsnips)

I started having an increasing urgency to pee, especially during the night often having to wake up 5,6 times
Finding no solution after checking for other possible causes with my doctor (diabetes, bladder issues, kidney stones)

I decided to look closely at my diet, first I cutout any raw vegetables before bed and saw a good improvement but was still having to wake at least once, so next I started eating highly absorbant foods before bed (rice cakes, Ryavita, bread)

This has proven virtually 100% effective, I'm sleeping for 7/8 hours uninterupted

However I am worried that is necessary to dehydate myself just to get to sleep

Any hivemedical advice for diagnoising what might be going on?

posted by complience to Health & Fitness (6 answers total)

Not a doctor, not giving any medical advice...

I bet that the veggies are contributing to extra hydration. They do hold a lot of water. So by not eating them prior to sleep, it makes sense that you would experience less urges to go to the bathroom.

However, I don't think rice cakes, Ryvita and bread are "absorbant". What they are, are carbs and I know that if I eat a lot of carbs in the evening (a big plate of spaghetti, for example) I sleep like the dead and have a hard time waking up.

I don't think you're in danger of deydrating yourself in relatively a few number of hours, as long as you are still intaking veggies and drinking fluids throughout the day.
posted by like_neon at 5:20 AM on July 8, 2011

However, I don't think rice cakes, Ryvita and bread are "absorbant".

I was going to say just this, except what I think they are is salty. (Unless you're buying the salt-free kind.) Salt will make you retain the water you drink (or in your case, eat.) That's why "stop eating salt" is always a tip for quick weight loss or de-bloating.
posted by DestinationUnknown at 5:28 AM on July 8, 2011

IANAD. I don't know your age, but as we get older, our blood level of vasopressin, especially at night, goes down. Vasopressin is a hormone that causes the kidney to concentrate urine by re-uptake of water to the blood stream, and its levels usually peak while we're asleep. Evolutionary biologists suggest that it is one adaptation that our long ago ancestors developed to conserve water, maintain blood pressure and reduce night time activity, which, on the African savanna, improved our species survival by keeping us asleep and out of the way of night hunting predators. Medications exist to help deal with low vasopressin levels.
posted by paulsc at 5:31 AM on July 8, 2011

I started having an increasing urgency to pee, especially during the night often having to wake up 5,6 times

I don't mean to sound alarmist, but this is a red-flag sign of another disease in addition to diabetes: primary aldosteronism. I have this condition. It can be ruled out (or confirmed, but it's rare) via a simple blood test for serum aldosterone and renin levels. Not saying you have this, but looking back on my nearly 20-year road to diagnosis, I think nocturnal polyuria was probably the first sign that something was wrong.
posted by chez shoes at 7:30 AM on July 8, 2011

I'm a little late, but this absolutely happens to me, too. If I stop eating my normal junky, salty (delicious) carbs, I start peeing all the time. Day time and night time, my ability to "hold it" disappears. The thing is that I don't seem to have more urine, just more frequent smaller amounts. On the other hand, if I eat delicious carbs then I pee less frequently but more each time. Even if I make an effort to drink lots of fluids, I just get lots of pee all at once. My solution has been to eat carbs (delicious) at drink lots of water.
posted by anaelith at 5:30 AM on July 9, 2011

I just read something today which said that if you elevate your feet while relaxing for a half hour before bedtime, it will make you pee, meaning that later on during the night you won't have to get up to pee. I don't know if it works, but it's free and easy to try...
posted by Leah at 3:33 PM on July 9, 2011